Blue Mountain Forests Worth More Standing
Endangered forests on Blue Mountain's lower southern slopes. Photo credit: Shel Neufeld Nov 2001
It all started several years ago when the Chilliwack Forest Service district office first proposed logging the 80-year-old forests along the southeast shore of Alouette Lake at the base of Blue Mountain. People were naturally upset - believing that these forests were in a protected area. The Forest Service got so many complaints that logging plans along Alouette Lake were temporarily put on hold. Then residents living near Dewdney Trunk Road, at the southern foot of Blue Mountain were dismayed to find several new clearcuts in the woodlot forests near their neighborhoods. Complaints to the Chilliwack Forest Service office increased. People wanted to know what was happening to their backyard forests on Blue Mountain.
In November of 2001 Chilliwack Forest Service District Manager Jerry Kennah announced that the Forest Service would convene a community consultation process for Blue Mountain. "When we heard about this community consultation process we were initially pleased because Blue Mountain certainly warrants further study, which we believe will lead to full protection"; said Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) spokesperson Joe Foy. WCWC is Canada's largest membership based wilderness preservation organization with over 26,000 members nation-wide. The largest block of WCWC supporters is in the Vancouver-Lower Mainland region.
"But after learning more about the proposed Forest Service process we can see it is seriously flawed because they are not considering a protected area option for Blue Mountain - only a continued logging option ".
Blue Mountain's forests are worth far more standing than cut down for lumber production. It takes about 30 loaded logging trucks to provide one full-time forestry job for one year. "You could clearcut Blue Mountain from top to bottom and still only provide a handful of short-term jobs because the trees there are small and of lower wood quality and volume," explained Foy. "Yet we know from a 1995 government study that for every dollar invested in BC's park system nine dollars in sustained economic activity are returned to the community.
It just makes sense economically and ecologically to grant protected area status to Blue Mountain. Because Blue Mountain is part of Katzie First Nation territory it should be co-managed between Katzie First Nation and BC Parks.
